Despite having good insurance, Richard still paid $17,000 out of pocket for Vivienne's medical treatment.
Transcript
Definitely. Again, I say we lived in Canada. I’m saying that because I am now living in the States and I understand there’s added financial pressures down there. I was working for the federal government. I had a healthcare plan that paid 80% of your drugs. Now that sounds great! The only problem was that one year our medical expenses—;mostly drugs but also for procedures not approved by the plan—were $17,000 out-of-pocket. So that means the total expenses were like 5 times that $85,000. And there were other years like that too, close to that. So we ended up having to mortgage, re-mortgage our house to be able to pay some of these drug costs, and she was getting special treatment for another condition, lymphedema, that she got as a result of having the TPN, and having repeated operations to insert tubes into her arteries, or sorry, into her veins—feeding tube so that she could receive the sugar and the lipid solutions.
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- Society and caregiving – RichardRichard came up with a standard response to people’s question’s about Vivienne. Most people, he felt, simply expected her to get better.
- Financial Impact – RichardDespite having good insurance, Richard still paid $17,000 out of pocket for Vivienne's medical treatment.
- Advice for friends and family – RichardRichard says that it is important to listen to the caregiver and let them talk, don’t offer solutions.
- Adapting to new roles and key issues for spouses – RichardRichard met someone else while caring for his wife. He married her after his wife passed away.